Do overs allowed

Jul 26, 2006 12:46 am

I would like to know from the veterans.......what is the one thing that you would do differently early on in your career if you had to do it over again? 

Jul 26, 2006 1:13 am

Played more Tic Tac Toe with our office assistants…

Jul 26, 2006 1:16 am

[quote=blarmston]Played more Tic Tac Toe with our office assistants....[/quote]

Nice one.

Jul 26, 2006 1:16 am

or at least her friends…

Jul 26, 2006 1:17 am

I would have gone independent at least 5 years earlier than I did.

Jul 26, 2006 1:40 am

I would have told people who were immature about money, and had unrealistic expections the cold, hard truth.  I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, and I would have moved on to a client who I could serve better.  You think you can save them all in beginning, but you can’t.

Jul 26, 2006 2:04 am

buy INTC IPO

Jul 26, 2006 3:05 am

Short VG after the IPO!

Jul 26, 2006 11:00 am

I would have eaten less, excercised more and ignored anyone that would have less money then me 5 years later (I started with NO net worth, and now have a greater net worth then a lot of those early clients). 

Jul 26, 2006 12:57 pm

taken more pictures of my dog…and played tic tac toe. 

Jul 26, 2006 1:29 pm

[quote=Soothsayer]I would have told people who were immature about money, and had unrealistic expections the cold, hard truth.  I wouldn't have thought twice about it, and I would have moved on to a client who I could serve better.  You think you can save them all in beginning, but you can't.[/quote]

Jul 26, 2006 4:37 pm

#1  Spend NO money on newsprint advertising

#2 Spend NO time prospecting 401k plans

#3 Accept NO accounts under $50k that do not have the potential for substantial future growth.

Jul 26, 2006 4:56 pm

[quote=maybeeeeeeee]

#1  Spend NO money on newsprint advertising

#2 Spend NO time prospecting 401k plans

#3 Accept NO accounts under $50k that do not have the potential for substantial future growth.

[/quote]

We second what she said.

Jul 26, 2006 4:56 pm

why no 401’s?  Is it because they get pulled when they get a new company match job?

Jul 26, 2006 5:17 pm

it is a long prospecting cycle and even if you have the better product, there is a possibility you will lose it to a rep that is 3 mnths in the business, but is the CFO’s son.

Jul 26, 2006 5:40 pm

[quote=frumhere]it is a long prospecting cycle and even if you have the better product, there is a possibility you will lose it to a rep that is 3 mnths in the business, but is the CFO's son.[/quote]

How true.

I have one in the pipe line right now going into month 6.

I think I have a shot to close it next July....maybe.

Jul 26, 2006 5:45 pm

[quote=Registered Rep]

[quote=frumhere]it is a long prospecting cycle and even if you have the better product, there is a possibility you will lose it to a rep that is 3 mnths in the business, but is the CFO’s son.[/quote]

How true.

I have one in the pipe line right now going into month 6.

I think I have a shot to close it next July....maybe.

[/quote]

And how much time and energy has it cost you so far?
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Jul 26, 2006 6:49 pm

[quote=moss84]why no 401's?  Is it because they get pulled when they get a new company match job?[/quote]

Walking out of your way to pick up pennies and dimes, when you can walk straight-forward to pick up dollar bills. Too much work, and all for naught.

Like life insurance too. Takes waayyyy too long to happen, for waayyy too little payout.

Jul 26, 2006 6:56 pm

[/quote]

And how much time and energy has it cost you so far?
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Joed, too many hours to count but I've kept this deal alive on the hope of converting the board of directors to clients once I'm inside the company. Unless I convert some HNW employees to clients...it's been a total charitable venture, meaning that I'll never earn back in commissions what I've sacrificed in time spent.

Jul 26, 2006 7:26 pm

About the only thing I'd change is that I'd be more skeptical of management's intentions.  The bottom line is, the only thing management really cares about besides their compensation package is...the bottom line.

...and although I was careful about this, I saw plenty of people who weren't, get burned.  ALWAYS assume that anything you say/do/email/write at work, can, and probably IS being monitored.

Jul 26, 2006 7:34 pm

[quote=Indyone]

About the only thing I'd change is that I'd be more skeptical of management's intentions.  The bottom line is, the only thing management really cares about besides their compensation package is...the bottom line.

...and although I was careful about this, I saw plenty of people who weren't, get burned.  ALWAYS assume that anything you say/do/email/write at work, can, and probably IS being monitored.

[/quote]

Including what is posted on this forum.

Jul 26, 2006 7:48 pm

absolutely.

Jul 26, 2006 7:58 pm

[quote=Indyone]absolutely.[/quote]

Would that mean that people at Mother Merrill are aware that Blarmston doesn't understand the bond market?

What a shame.

Jul 26, 2006 8:12 pm

The only thing I would change is that I would never had sold a fixed annuity that didn’t have some rate guarantees.

Jul 26, 2006 9:07 pm

Would that mean that people at Mother Merrill are aware that Blarmston doesn't understand the bond market?

What a shame.

Very original....

Jul 27, 2006 12:57 am

Although I would agree that marketing 401(k)'s is a very long, drawn-out process, I wouldn't toss-out this sales angle. It can be useful as a lead-in to other investment products.

In my experience, marketing 401(k)'s gets me in the door, while trying to sell the owner muni's (for example) doesn't. Why?

I think it's because marketing 401(k)'s is not viewed as a direct sales attempt, as opposed to selling someone a bond (for example). As a result, there's a lower level of sales resistance and it gives the owner the chance to get to know me.

For example, let's assume John Doe owns Company A and their 401(k) doesn't come up for review for 6 months. I walk-in, marketing 401(k)'s. The owner tells me, I'm 6 months too early, for their 401(k). No matter, I ask for the opportunity to bid for their 401(k) plan. I've never had a business owner decline to let me bid.

In order to bid, I must know as much as possible about the company and it's employees; so, I ask for an appointment to get the relevant info. (I walk away from that first appointment with a ton of useful info.) Invariably, I require a second appointment to ask some follow-up questions and get some more information. My third appointment is just to confirm my findings with management and is very casual, as they've gotten to know me by now.

I can assure you that sometime during those three appointments, I'll find out who their personal broker is, the approximate account size, and a general idea of their type of investments. Also, during those three appointments, they'll learn who I am and the way I do business. I've gotten more personal business from owners using this strategy, as opposed to investment product sales.

Oh yeah, once in a while, you'll actually get the company's retirement plan. My first one was $10 million and it took 1.5 years to get it. In the meantime, I opened 4 large personal accounts of company management, before I got the 401(k).

Make a living just marketing 401(k)'s? Very tough.

Make a living off the collateral benefits of marketing 401(k)'s? Yeah, it works for me.

Jul 27, 2006 1:06 am

Good stuff right there…

Jul 27, 2006 3:34 am

[quote=blarmston]Good stuff right there.....[/quote]

agreed...

could it be that prospecting for 401k's from scratch versus poaching on mature plans within developed, profitable companies makes all the difference?

if you're going to fish for 401k biz, you may as well fish in the deeper water using larkspur data--

Jul 27, 2006 3:58 pm

Speaking of larkspur - has that worked for anyone else?

Jul 27, 2006 4:24 pm

Larkspur Data…now there’s a blast from the past!

Jul 27, 2006 11:36 pm

Used it once – didn’t like it. Thanks for playing.

Jul 27, 2006 11:56 pm

[quote=Devoted SA]Speaking of larkspur - has that worked for anyone else? [/quote]

i'm working a larkspur list right now to drum up some summer activity-- i've reacquainted myself with some old friends whose company plan's have grown into the $750,000 to $2mm class -- some are even unhappy w/ their brokers for their personal accts--

nothing transacted yet, but i'll definitely pull in a couple of these by year's end.